Bert Mathews

Bert Mathews is one of Nashville's most astute real estate investors. Behind his disarming smile is an encyclopedic knowledge of the deals that have shaped Nashville's growth over the past 75 years. Real estate is in his DNA. His grandfather started The Mathews Company. His father ran it for more than 30 years. Bert has now taken the reins and is leading The Mathews Company into a new era of growth and success.

Bert combines consummate people skills with a keen and decisive business mind. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard Business School, Bert's 20-plus years of experience in commercial real estate services have seen him represent clients as a developer, a broker and a property manager.

Bert joined The Mathews Company as vice president in 1984. He became president of the firm in 1992. As president, Bert oversees development, acquisitions, financing, institutional and investor relations, and supervision of all real estate marketing activities for both portfolio and third-party properties, which total more than 4.25 million square feet. Bert is also a partner of sister company, Colliers International, where he provides property management strategies and services to clients for the Nashville office.

Not only is Bert a leader in commercial real estate services, he is also a community leader in both civic and professional organizations. He holds leadership roles in many Nashville-area organizations. Bert is a newly appointed Trustee of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and will be working with worldwide experts to provide leadership in responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. He is past Chairman of the ULI Nashville District Council and is a member of the ULI’s Daniel Rose Fellowship for Public Leaders class of 2010 and a current faculty advisor. He is the former Chairman of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, a former board member of Cumberland Region Tomorrow, former Chairman of Nashville District Management Corporation (CBID), and former Vice Chairman of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority and former Chairman of the Metro Transit Authority. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and is a Board Member of Nashville Downtown Partnership. Bert is a board member of the University of North Carolina’s General Alumni Board.

Bert was in the Nashville Post’s “In Charge 2014”, a list of Middle Tennessee’s top business leaders. He was also named Executive of the Year in the Nashville Business Journal’s inaugural Commercial Real Estate VIPs. In 2013 he was named by the Nashville Post as one of the CRE Top 50, a list of Nashville commercial real estate professionals considered to be “on top of their of game”. He most recently was named one of Nashville Business Journal’s Power Leader of Commercial Real Estate in 2015 and 2017. Bert received the Nashville Downtown Partnership’s Outstanding Achievement in Residential Development Award in 2006 and in 2012 received their Invest Award for the transformation of a historic structure into an entrepreneurial hub for the Trolley Barns at Rolling Mill Hill which was awarded the Urban Land Institute’s Excellence in Development in 2013. Bert is a member of the ULI’s Daniel Rose Fellowship for Public Leaders Class of 2010.

Bert and his wife, Brooks, are the dedicated parents of five. As a result, Bert also participates in organizations aimed at educating young people. He is the former President of the Board of Trustees for University School of Nashville. He is a former president of the Adventure Science Center board. Bert was named Father of the Year in 2007 by the American Diabetes Association.

It's my opinion that the economic history of Nashville dates to 1818 when the first steamboat, The General Jackson, docked on the Cumberland. For with that steamboat, modern transportation made it possible for Nashville to become the region’s shipping and distribution center. Nashville, with the Cumberland's connections to the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, soon ranked second only to New Orleans in importance among Southern cites."
- Bob Mathews